<p>Hello forum!</p>
<p>I was just wondering how an additional recommendation would affect your application. Does a rec from a mentor/friend/collegue/etc. looked at with suspicion? I mean, are they taken seriously or are they considered subjective?</p>
<p>An idea for my additional rec:
- I appeared on Dragon’s Den (swedish version - yeah, I’m Swedish and I live in Sweden), 10 min national-tv broadcast (400 000 viewers). Didn’t get an investment but they loved me and my company. Quote: “Amazing guys” “So refreshing” “Better than most adults” “That was Sweden’s entrepreneurial future!”. Pretty sure I could get rec from one of the Dragons (one specifically since I’ve met him a few times after the show). How would admission officer look upon this?</p>
<p>O__o Woah! That’s pretty awesome! 
I watch Dragon’s Den, though I live in the U.S. What was your company/product/pitch? :P</p>
<p>And to answer your question, I think it would hurt your application more than help. If you read some of the major threads on CC about Letters of Recommendations, they typically say that getting a LoR from famous people can often be a double edge sword, as it all depends on how well they know you. Sure, the people are more than the average person that is writing a LoR. But if they don’t know you well, and in this case I believe several meetings and an appearance in front of them for a T.V. session don’t count as getting to know each other well, then it would look worse than a teacher LoR. </p>
<p>tl;dr - My opinion? Don’t.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response!
Seems pretty logical when you put it that way. However, a friend got into Harvard with a additional rec from a famous guy that worked in the UN. He only met the guy once. My friend’s SAT was barely over 2000, not to speak of his SAT IIs… 
He did have killer recs and amazing essays though.</p>
<p>About the appearance:
Company - Dfuser (We were three guys, I was co-founder and marketing director)
Product - Anti-stress beverage (own product, we developed it)
Pitch - we wanted about $170k for 15 % (very very dreamy, we didn’t get it ofcourse, but we made a great impression on the dragons and those that I know have seen it.)</p>
<p>bump! Is an additional rec a waste of time?</p>
<p>I just realized I never truly answered your question. And so to answer your question, an additional rec is not necessarily a waste of time, it’s just not necessary. If you have the required amount of recs a school wants, then that should be it. Like University of Illinois doesn’t require recs, and if you send a rec with your application, they just ignore it. Might be the same principle with additional recs at rec-required schools.</p>
<p>Oh and I found a youtube video of your pitch! Although it was in swedish or whatever ._. Are you the asian guy or one of the other two? :P</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! Once again, seems pretty logical when you put it that way.</p>
<p>Haha! Yeah, it’s in swedish I’ll probably fix subtitles sooner or later, I’ll send you a PM then 
Btw, I’m the curly-haired guy :P</p>